Religious experiences

An encounter with the divine that leaves one without doubt that a higher spiritual force exists beyond ourselves.

Numinous, visions and Mystical

Used to describe indirect experiences of awe and wonder in the presence of God – ‘the wholly other’

A direct vision of God or divine representative

Used to describe experiences of union with the divine

Corporeal, imaginative and intellectual

is empirical and comes through the physical sense of sight. A supernatural vision of an object that is really present.

the experiencer has no power to direct the experience and will most frequently occur in a dream state, not normal sight. Seen through the mind’s ‘eye’.

has no image but the experiencer comes to ‘see’ things as they truly are. Cannot be described.

Bernadette (1844-1879)

While collecting firewood with her sister and a friend, the young Bernadette experienced a vision of a ‘small young lady’ dressed in white with a blue waist-belt. She claimed to have 18 visions in total, during which the lady identified herself as the Immaculate Conception, meaning the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. The vision were accompanied by the appearance of a spring of water, which has since become the source of documented miracles.

The vision is corporeal as Bernadette saw the physical body of Mary. It is also private as her sister and friend claimed to see nothing. It is also auditory as during the 16th vision the lady says she is ‘the Immaculate Conception’. There was the clear instruction to wash in the water from the spring and to build a chapel on the site for the faithful to visit. It had clear religious significance.

a) The vision was a dream beyond the Pharaoh’s control and seen with the mind’s eye. b) Pharaoh’s account of the dream is vivid and the effect on him is dramatic. c) The dream has entered Pharaoh’s imagination by God’s agency. Joseph tells him: ‘God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.’ (Genesis 41:25). Pharaoh recognises that Joseph is guided by the ‘Spirit of God’ which is the source of his illumination. d) As a result, Pharaoh stores enough grain to prevent starvation in Egypt. He places Joseph in charge of the land of Egypt.

St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

‘I was in prayer one day when I saw Christ close by me, or, to speak more correctly, felt Him; for I saw nothing with the eyes of the body, nothing with the eyes of the soul. He seemed to me to be close beside me; and I saw, too, as I believe, that it was He who was speaking to me. Jesus Christ seemed to be by my side continually, and, as the vision was not imaginary, I saw no form; but I had a most distinct feeling that He was always on my right hand, a witness of all I did.’

1. God is not the being described by Christian teaching and is probably in time, not knowing the future. God could be a collection of god-like selves.

2. Spiritual communion with God through prayer produces real psychological or material effects in the world.

3. There are psychological benefits of spiritual communion such as a new zest for life.

1. Ineffable: The experience is beyond proper description and cannot be described in words but has to be felt

2. Noetic: The experience gives the person a deep and direct knowledge / insight of God. Leads to a state of insight.

3. Transient: The experience is a temporary one (often very short) although the effects can be long lasting.

4. Passive: The person has a sense that something is acting upon them. They have not caused the experience and do not control it.

• James argued that personal religious experience has its root and centre in mystical states of consciousness. He saw that it was difficult to define what a ‘mystical experience’ is but linked it to a state of union with the divine

• William James would consider it coherent that the mind can both receive experiences from God and initiate experiences by reaching out to God.

• SCIENCE: religious experiences are simply states of the brain

• RELIGION: religious experiences have to be states of the brain that can be both given and asked of God.

• James argues that mystical religious experiences range from experiences with little religious significance (such as the effects of music or poetry or the experience of déjà vu), to cosmic consciousness and union with the divine.

• He argued that religious experiences can be drug-induced as drugs (like nitrous oxide) can give the experiencer access to different levels of consciousness – but this is a very controversial claim!

• Mystical experiences can also be cultivated by actions such as prayer and meditation as they induce the appropriate conditions.

• The point of mystical religious experiences is that God / the divine meets each individual on he basis of their own personal concerns, be they ‘sick souls’ or ‘healthy minded’.

• ‘God’s existence is the guarantee that there is an ideal order that will be permanently preserved’.

• The ‘mysterium tremendum et fascinans

  • Furthermore, using Latin, Otto describes the “numinous” as a mystery (Latin: mysterium) that is at once terrifying (tremendum) and fascinating (fascinans). He writes

The feeling of it may at times come sweeping like a gentle tide pervading the mind with a tranquil mood of deepest worship. It may pass over into a more set and lasting attitude of the soul, continuing, as it were, thrillingly vibrant and resonant, until at last it dies away and the soul resumes its “profane,” non-religious mood of everyday experience. [...] It has its crude, barbaric antecedents and early manifestations, and again it may be developed into something beautiful and pure and glorious. It may become the hushed, trembling, and speechless humility of the creature in the presence of—whom or what? In the presence of that which is a Mystery inexpressible and above all creatures.[3]: 12–13 [7] - Otto, Rudolf (1923). The Idea of the Holy

• John Macquarrie, a Scottish born theologian writes: ‘Otto holds that although the numinous is inconceivable, it is somehow within our grasp. We apprehend it in feeling... the feeling of the presence of an overwhelming Being- the numinous Being which strikes dumb with amazement.’

• It produces feelings of stupor, black wonder, dumb astonishment, inadequacy, humility.

• Otto's use of the term as referring to a characteristic of religious experience was influential among certain intellectuals of the subsequent generation. For example, "numinous" as understood by Otto was a frequently quoted concept in the writings of Carl Jung and C. S. Lewis.

• When the disciples first encountered Jesus, they perceived this power in Jesus. Peter watched Jesus produce a miraculous catch of fish and his immediate response was to understand his own inadequacy.

• The mystery itself is fascinating. Having recognised that he is a creature confronted by the wholly other, the reaction of Peter is simply to leave everything and follow Jesus. His fishing partners, James and John, are caught up by the same fascination, and do the same thing. (Luke 5:11).

• Richard Swinburne argues that our experiences of the world suggest that God probably exists, and religious experiences are part of this probability argument

• There is no reason why claims to religious experience should be treated any differently to ordinary perceptual claims

states we should accept what appears to be the case unless we have clear evidence to the contrary. The way things seem to be is the way things really are.

states that unless we have positive evidence that they are misremembering or are untrustworthy, we should believe the testimony of the experience.

• He seems to claim that since normal sense experiences are reliable, so religious experiences are reliable evidence that God exists. Is this a sensible claim?

• Accounts of religious experience are private and not open to public scrutiny. They happen inside the person’s head which makes them difficult to confirm.

• The fact the people believe God is the explanation for their experience, doesn’t mean that he really is.

Five blind men come across an elephant. Each wanted to know what elephants were like, and began to touch the elephant. The first said the elephant was like a tree, as he only touched it’s leg. The second said the elephant was like a giant fan, as he had only touched it’s ear. The third said it was like a wrinkled vine, as he had only touched it’s trunk. The fourth man feels the tail and says, “An elephant is like a rope.” The fifth man is afraid. He doesn’t feel the elephant at all. The five blind men argue a long time about what an elephant is and based on their own personal experience each is right.

1. It is Freud’s hypothesis that religion is just wishful thinking to combat psychological turmoil.

2. The idea of God helps us to control fear of the unknown and of death, and pressures from society.

3. For Freud religion is not necessarily false but illusionary – something which answers inner needs.

4. Religious visions and mystical experiences are simply hallucinations caused by a human need to have control over our helpless state.

5. Freud therefore focused on the function of religion in overcoming inner fears and turmoil.

• Freud’s ideas are supported by modern investigation into temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). People who suffer from TLE are more prone to have religious experiences and can experience strong religious visions. There have been suggestions that religious figures of the past may have suffered from the condition.

• Research findings on TLE are supported by the science of neurology which suggests that religious experiences are produced by electrical stimulations of the temporal lobes of the brain

• the God helmet creates a weak electromagnetic pulse around the right temporal lobe . the reason for the specific lobe, is because it is the right temporal lobe that creates out of body experiences if stimulated

• 1000 people have worn the god helmet, with 80% reported feeling a presence in the room with them

• others has reported out of body experiences - others reported nothing

1. Finally, religious experiences can also be caused by certain types of drugs, which is further evidence that religious experiences are nothing more than mental states, you could argue.

2. The effects of religious experiences are often similar to that of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD. These drugs are called ‘entheogens’, meaning ‘generating the Divine from within’, because people who take them can have intense spiritual experiences. The main effects are processed by the prefrontal cortex.

• The etymology of entheogen is itself striking, pointing towards the spiritual effects of these drugs.

• En + theo + gens (within) (divine) (generating/ becoming)

• In 1962, Walter Pahnke conducted a scientific study of 20 theology students at Harvard Divinity School, known as the ‘Good Friday Experiment.’

• Ten were given the drug psilocybin, a form of entheogen, while the others were given a placebo.

• Pahnke hypothesised that psychedelic drugs, in this case psilocybin, could facilitate a "mystical" experience in religiously inclined volunteers who t ook the drug in a religious setting. He further hypothesized that such experiences would result in persisting positive changes in attitudes and behavior.

• Pahnke believed the most conducive environment for his experiment would be a community of believers participating in a familiar religious ceremony designed to elicit religious feelings, in effect creating an atmosphere like that of the tribes which used psilocybin-containing mushrooms for religious purposes.

• Response: some experiences are group experiences (toronto blessing) that don’t rely on one person’s experience / testimony.

• God could select individuals for an experience because he considers them trustworthy.

• What about the effects of the experience – conversion.

Response: Lost of experiences are subjective and private but we still choose to believe them e.g. the experience of mental health, dreams, smells and tastes.

Response: The fact that language can’t describe an experience may say more about the limitations of our language then it does about the validity of the experience. James suggests that ineffability is part of what it means to have a mystical experience.

Response: Gateway to understanding a higher reality

Response: Different experiences could be different individual or cultural ways of experiencing the same underlying reality.

Response: Swinburne would argue, through the principle of testimony and credulity that we should treat these extraordinary claims just like ordinary ones unless we have strong reason or evidence to doubt the validity of the experience.

1. Religious Experiences can be foundational. They have been the direct cause of the founding of several religions and are the basis of their faith e.g. Saul, a Pharisee who persecutes the Christian community, has a foundational experience which transforms him into the Apostle Paul (you can read more about this in Acts 9).

2. They are also inspirational. The religious experiences of some of the great martyrs and saints of the Church have inspired belief in others, convincing others that their faith is worth standing up for e.g. Joan of Arc in France in the medieval era. (see clip/s)

3. They are at the heart of religious pilgrimage. As in the example of Bernadette Soubirous and Lourdes

4. Religious Experiences are life-changing. They have psychological benefits (W James) and can develop feelings of love, sympathy, etc.

1. They can be foundational, inspirational and life-changing.

2. They confirm faith and lead to a deeper knowledge of God for those who have had the experience.

3. The only certainty we have that God exists is faith (or ‘belief in’), and that certainty is based on personal experience of God, not logical arguments.

4. Swinburne uses a ‘cumulative argument’: When combined with arguments like the design argument, taken together they are stronger. They are all strengthened by each other.